


Moon and Sun

by Steangine



Category: Bleach
Genre: Fluff, M/M, there's a fluffy Hollow too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 22:16:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11587266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steangine/pseuds/Steangine
Summary: It's Ichigo's birthday. And throwing surprise parties isn't the best of his family's skills, but he gets along with it.[GrimmIchi]





	Moon and Sun

**Author's Note:**

> I had a different plan for this one shot, being divided into two parts to post respectively on Ichigo's and Grimmjow's birthday. But I failed so here it is.  
> It's settled in the same line as "Voice of the father", so Isshin knows that his son is dating a former Espada.

Humans had the strange habit of throwing a party for the anniversary of their birth. Grimmjow had a vague recall that before dying he used to do it too, but, apart from few fragments of candles, laughs, whipped cream, and the date of his own birthday, he didn’t remember enough to be sure to know what to do.

One day, Isshin Kurosaki went in Hueco Mundo to find him and, after having knocked out two Arrancar attracted by his reiatsu and frightened many menos, he showed a bright smile as Grimmjow arrived to face the intruder.

“Hey, Ichigo’s birthday is next week. You are invited, of course!”

“Birthday?”

Grimmjow ignored Sun Sun’s existence -easy task, as she was quieter than her friends lying on the ground- and talked without restraints.

“He hasn’t said a thing.”

“Because it’s a surprise, of course!”

Isshin cackled with his mouth wide opened and Grimmjow wondered if he was related to Ichigo for real or Ichigo was adopted and nobody told him anything. The latter was the most probable.

“What should I do?”

“Come and have fun! Ah, bring a present if you manage to!”

Grimmjow bypassed the fact that Ichigo in a year never mentioned his birthday even once and, few hours later, ignored Tier scolding at his back as he opened the garganta tied to Urahara’s shop and disappeared behind it. To his surprise, he found the small Shinigami he punched almost to death at their first encounter.

She didn’t draw her sword, but Grimmjow noticed how her eyebrows twitched. A tall red-head shielded her, his hand already on the hilt of his weapon.

“What’s an arrancar doing here?”

The male shinigami’s reiatsu was tingling with menace and it was poking Grimmjow’s fight instinct. He sensed that if he were to draw his sword and enter his resurrected form, he would have had a helluwa good fight. But Grimmjow recalled why he was there and just scoffed at Urahara, who looked like he was enjoying that situation.

“Hey, give me a body so I can go buy a present for Kurosaki.”

If Rukia and Renji’s respective jaws weren’t attached to their faces, they would have probably fell on the floor.

“What? How did you–“

“His father went in Hueco Mundo and invited me at the surprise party.”

The more he talked, the more their brains found difficult elaborating the new information, the more Urahara giggled behind his fan.

“I have already prepared the gigai for all of you and, of course, the human world currency for the present.” Urahara explained. “Please, take something big enough to cover for my part too.”

“You aren’t coming?” Rukia asked.

Urahara chuckled. “You see, I have so much to do, work…”

“That was the same shitty excuse Aizen always gave us while he had his fucking ass sitting on his throne, you know?”

Grimmjow spat out freezing the atmosphere. Urahara shook his hand.

“My my, comparing me to Aizen is too much. I think he could be even better than me in terms of foreseeing.”

Renji frowned. “That’s not the point, Urahara-san…”

If somebody told them one day they would have looked for a birthday present for a human together with an arrancar, Rukia and Renji would have laughed. However, they were walking around Karakura without a single clue on what they could get to Ichigo accompanied by Grimmjow, who was collaborating more than they had expected. In fact, he wasn’t complaining, nor getting on their nerves with mockful remarks or trying to ruin their mood somehow. Even if both Renji and Rukia kept glancing at him from time to time; but Grimmjow was lazily observing the crowd, as if that errand didn’t concern him.

Renji pointed at a shop. “A sword.”

“He doesn’t use them as a human, fool.”

“Chocolate milkshake.” He replied.

“That’s not a birthday present!”

“Then a gun, humans use guns a lot!”

“Renji, are you kidding me?”

“…chocolate cake?”

Rukia felt the need to push his best friend under the car who was arriving at full speed, but her eyes fell on a shop at the end of the street and suddenly all her annoyance crumbled.

“That one!”

Before Renji could stop her, she dashed among the people. It was difficult for Renji and Grimmjow staying behind her, as she was small and it was easier slithering in the crowd; they kept bumping against shoulders and bags, followed by some annoyed voices, until they reached the entrance of the shop.

“ Thisbody isso annoying…”

Grimmjow grumbled with his teeth clenched. It was heavy and sweaty; every step was difficult and having something instead of his hole made him feel as if he had an anchor into his stomach. His throat was always dry –he’d forgotten to bring a bottle of water with him– and the physiological needs were the hugest of the bothers. Did Kurosaki feel like that whenever he wasn’t in his Shinigami form? Was he that sensitive at every single caress on his skin, did he feel the clothes tickling all over his body? Would Ichigo have felt more his tongue, his stroke and his thrusts if they were to have sex with their human bodies instead of their soul forms? Would he have screamed more than usual, with his skin all covered in sweat, his scent so intense and his mind clouded into pleasure?

A wave of warmth invaded his body and Grimmjow licked his lips. He was thirsty, but not just of water.

Someone bumped into his right shoulder and Grimmjow was dragged out of his fantasy back into the real world, where he wasn’t sweaty from pleasant sex but sweaty from the summer heat. He was distracted by a smiling girl standing near the entrance who was making flowers out of pieces of paper and distributed them to the children. Grimmjow stared mesmerized at how a single small flat sheet of paper could turn into a 3D beautiful flower. What was the trick?

Renji didn’t move from his side, as the huge place opening in front of them had too many roads to take and Rukia wasn’t in his sight.

“The hell is this place?!”

There were many children, most of them dragging their parents or dragged away by them. Renji didn’t know much about human world, but he knew enough to realize that wasn’t the shop they were looking for. Rukia emerged from the human sea, her eyes were sparkling in the same way they did whenever she came into cute things – Chappy’s merchandise above all.

“Rukia, this isn’t–“

“Renji, I’ve found it!”

All the shelves overflew with toys and converged in the exact center of the shop. Rukia opened the small queue, bringing them where all the aisles met: a tower of stuffed toys built around a giant teddy bear opened in front of them.

“T-that thing is as huge as that Tenth Espada in his Resurrected form…”

Renji’s jaw fell. Grimmjow didn’t look much impressed.

“Renji, I’m going to take it.” Rukia declared as the glimmer into his eyes acquired a sinister shade.

“Rukia, no. I don’t think Ichigo is into this kind of stuff.”

“Fool! Who said it’s for Ichigo?”

“But we’re here to buy _him_ a present! Not you!”

Rukia took from her back the strangest stuffed toy Renji had ever seen: almost as tall as her -and he wondered how he didn’t notice it before-, the furry cloths of different shades of orange and brown were kept together by many rough black stitches, the eyes were of different dimensions and it had a little mask over the head, between the nibbled rabbit ears. Behind the back there was a zipper, Rukia opened it, revealing many chocolates in red wraps.

“There’s no way we’ll buy that for Ichigo!”

Rukia opened her mouth, but Grimmjow, who hadn’t said a word until that moment, spoke first. “It doesn’t look clever and it’s soft: this is Kurosaki.”

Renji gave them a hopeless look while Rukia nodded with energy. “He’s damn right, Renji! Maybe if you tilted your head a bit, you could see the resemblance.”

“Resemblance my ass! I’m not going to give him that!”

“Renji, this is the perfect present for Ichigo!”

As their verbal quarrel started, Grimmjow took the stuffed toy.

“What are you doing?!” Rukia tried to stop him.

“Paying this.”

She smirked. “With what money?”

Grimmjow grinned back. He was holding the credit card Urahara gave them between his index and middle finger. Rukia looked stunned; she suddenly sank both hands inside the pockets of her dress, but they were empty. Renji was astonished as well.

“How did you–?”

“I’ll pay this thing and then go find another present for Kurosaki. Like hell I’m mingling with you.”

Rukia burst out. “You fool! Our present will surely be better!”

Renji gave her a puzzled stare. “Rukia, this is not the point here!”

***

Ichigo had a long afternoon waiting for him. He spent the morning pretending he hadn’t already realize his father was throwing a surprise party for his birthday; after trying not to enter the kitchen while Yuzu was cooking or looking at his father who kept appearing in front of him as if he wanted to avoid him entering certain rooms, Ichigo decided it would have been more relaxing staying on his own for the time being.

In town, the weather was scorching hot, but there was always a feeble wind relieving from the tight grip of summer on the hills. Ichigo took with him a bottle of water and a small box where he put the scraps from dinner. Climbing the road was more difficult than in June, when the sun was a warm caress instead of a heavy punch, but Ichigo sipped from the bottle and took his time to reach the peak. Sometimes he looked back and enjoyed the view of Karakura becoming smaller and smaller as the sky got closer.

“Hi, mom.”

He sat down in front of the graveyard, crossed his legs and enjoyed the breeze that washed away the effect of the sun on him. He used to go visiting his mother only on the day of her death until he met Rukia and realized how her mother’s soul was devoured by Grand Fisher. Sometimes, when he wandered around without a precise goal, he ended up climbing up the hill and go to her grave. It soothed his mind. This way he realized that probably Isshin missed her more than he showed, as nor once the flowers were dry or the stone was dirty.

“The old man’s throwing a surprise party for me, even if he’s as subtle as a skyscraper… I think Karin knows I know, but she’s keeping the secret because Yuzu’s always excited for surprise parties. I didn’t want to ruin it.”

Ichigo was aware his mother could have never listened to him, because even his soul disappeared and only memories remained of her. But he kept doing it anyway.

“Yo.”

Something was smashed on the ground right behind him and Ichigo jolted. He noticed a small circle of shadow was projected over his head and when he turned he saw an old style red umbrella; right behind, Grimmjow was looking at him.

“Grimmjow?”

Grimmjow sat down next to him. The shadow of the umbrella wasn’t big, their legs and shoulders touched as they both had their heads repaired from the sun.

“What are you doing here? And your mask–a gigai.”

Ichigo looked puzzled enough for Grimmjow to guess what questions were piercing through his mind without asking.

“I’m doing a favor to that mad hat.”

“Favor…?” Ichigo put a hand on his face. “Don’t tell me goat face invited people from Seireitei too…”

Grimmjow emitted a strangled sound. “H-how?! It had to be a surprise! Your father forbade me to hang around too much or you would have suspected something! He sent me here to keep you away for a while!”

“He’s the type of man who can reveal secrets even without telling them.” Except the most important one concerning the origin of his powers. “I’ve been knowing for two days by now.”

“Damn it.”

Ichigo shrugged. “What a waste of time, really…”

Grimmjow snorted. “What a liar.”

“What?”

“If you really thought that way, you wouldn’t look so happy.”

“It’s not like I’m smiling.” Ichigo frowned at him. “I had to go away from home so that they could finish in peace. It’s bothering.”

“And you like it.”

Grimmjow’s eyes pierced him and Ichigo looked back at his mother’s grave. He didn’t feel brave enough to deny it. Deep down he knew it would have been a lie. The idea of being loved to that extent, being loved that someone was bothering to bring a tiny bit of happiness into his life was heartwarming.

“…sometimes I miss her. Grand Fisher ate her soul.”

“I know.”

Ichigo glanced at Grimmjow.

“He was one of the last Hollows who didn’t degenerate while being forced into the status of Arrancar. Sometimes he stuck with Di Roy, but I’ve never liked his way of dealing with fights, so I just met him once. He kept blabbering how he would have had your head, but in the end, it turned the other way round.”

“It was my father who killed him. I thought I would have felt better after that…”

Into the silence of the graveyard, they heard some feeble far steps getting farther.

“Grimmjow, I brought that for me.”

Ichigo scolded Grimmjow as he took the lacquered box and started nibbling at the food.

“Shut up! I’ve been always hungry and thirsty since when I entered this damn body!” He drank some water. “Are you intentioned to stay here forever?”

“Nah. I think that if I go home around three it should be fine.”

“Four is better.”

“I should have brought more food.”

Ichigo looked down the paved road where the stairs to the graveyard were trembling under the heat of summer. Then he felt something heavy being put on his head.

“What…?”

A squared package fell on his lap. It was wrapped in a blue paper sprinkled with red doodles of strawberries. The white ribbon was sticking to the package a crumbled piece of paper which was badly shaped into something that should have been a flower.

“A present.” Grimmjow said it as if he was a stupid because he didn’t realize it on his own. “How’s it?”

Despite he tried to sound carefree, Ichigo noticed the nervous mood hiding behind his composed look. Did Grimmjow fold the paper into a flower?

“I like the flower, it’s nice.”

The light blush on Grimmjow’s cheeks replied to the answer. Ichigo smiled. He did his best to unwrap the present without ruining the paper. His mother always opened her presents and stored away all the papers together with the birthday cards; that was one habit Ichigo took from her.

“Oh! A book of…” Ichigo was bewildered. “…Shakespearean insults?”

“You once said you like this Shakespeare guy, but you sisters told me you have all of his works already.”

Ichigo was torn between the puzzlement behind that bizarre present and the warmth in his chest due to Grimmjow’s attention. He didn’t even remember they ever talked about Shakespeare or something similar, but he remembered he once said -probably absentmindedly- he admired Shakespeare and liked his works. It was sweet and also a bit unusual that Grimmjow recalled everything he said. Did he care that much about him that he listened to every single word he pronounced even when it seemed he wasn’t listening? It seemed like it.

Ichigo stood up and took the umbrella.

“Oi, what are you doing, Ichigo?” Grimmjow was still in the middle of his small meal.

“There’s a nice café on the other side. Let’s go eat there.”

“And why did you bring your lunch?”

“Because I thought I would have been alone.”

Ichigo didn’t need to tend his hand. Grimmjow took it with a natural gesture, almost without thinking, and when he stood up he didn’t let it go.

***

The door opened, a blast of rainbow confetti covered both Ichigo and Grimmjow. When the colorful rain thinned out, Ichigo looked at the line of his family and friends smiling at him. His instinct made him step behind, but Grimmjow was blocking his retreat and gave a harsh poke at his back to make him walk forward.

“Happy Birthday!”

Voices stumbled one on another. He heard Yuzu’s “Ichi-nii” challenging with Orihime’s “Kurosaki-kun”, then he recognized Nel’s voice and noticed her standing next to Urahara, who was restraining her attempt of jumping on Ichigo. Rukia stopped in front of him with her hands on the hips.

“Ichigo, you’re late!”

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a surprise party? How can I be late?”

Isshin cranked up the volume. “Rukia-chan is right, Ichigo!”

“Shut up, you!”

Ichigo tried to stay angry at them, but they were all there smiling at him. There for him. His family, his friends. And he just couldn’t hide his happiness behind a scowl.

“W-what’s with that giant orange rabbit?”

“Renji, I told you that we had to wrap it!”

“Ichigo, I want you to know that I was totally against it!”

***

Grimmjow felt like days in Hueco Mundo became slower than before. He wasn’t sure why, but they did. Whenever he had the chance he sneaked into the human world to spend some time with Ichigo, however, it wasn’t really safe playing that game too intensely under the nose of Seireitei. Especially after those two Shinigami were aware of his presence.

“How boring…”

He was resting on a white rock in the middle of a deserted land. Not so distant from there, a small village was built by the weakest Hollows who didn’t find interesting going on human world and put their lives on the line. Since when the Quincy menace was wiped out and Aizen returned into the prison hole he belonged to, those small villages have been increasing in number. Grimmjow wasn’t the only one who noticed; Tier was fast to assure protection to those centers. Something was changing in Hueco Mundo.

But the deep blue sky was always the same, with the same white moon watching the Hollows.

Grimmjow heard a small noise near. He turned his head and spotted a very tiny Hollow, not bigger than his hand. It was like a round loaf of bread with a tiny mask on it, a pair of flat ears and a long thin tail. The Hollow made a timid attempt of jumping on the rock where Grimmjow was lying, but rolled down the sand. It didn’t lose its temper and gave again the assault at the rock. This time Grimmjow grabbed the Hollow by its tail and the Hollow suddenly covered his mask with his ears.

“Do you think you can hide just like that?”

He put it on the rock. The Hollow stayed still for an indefinite amount of time. Then the ears glided down its mask and it looked right and left without even bothering looking up. The Hollow crouched on his short paws and closed its eyes.

When Grimmjow tickled it behind the ears, the Hollow made a strange tiny sound similar to a sigh.

“Ku-pyuu…”

“What kind of Hollow are you?” He asked caressing its soft black fur.

“Hey, Grimmjow!”

Ichigo’s voice appeared from nowhere behind him and Grimmjow freaked out. He pushed the Hollow away, making it roll on the sand.

“Kurosaki!” He snarled. “The hell are you doing here?!”

Ichigo was in his Shinigami form. He scowled at Grimmjow, his arms crossed against the chest.

“Why do you react like that? With all the times you popped out in front of me in the human world.”

“The way back is suspicious. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Ichigo scratched his head. “I just wanted to bring you to the cinema. There aren’t many around in Hueco Mundo, are there?”

Grimmjow smirked. “If you want to fuck, we can do it right here without roundabouts.”

“You idiot! I’m serious!”

Ichigo rustled inside the sleeve and took out a package. Grimmjow took it: it was soft.

“What’s this for?”

“You lose the track of time here, really… it’s for your birthday.”

“My birthday?”

“You are not the only one who can listen.”

“I didn’t have many chances to celebrate it here in Hueco Mundo. You end up forgetting this kind of things here…”

As Grimmjow ripped the paper marked with many cat paws, an edge of a long orangish scarf made of a light material fell on the sand.

“Uh?”

“I didn’t know what you could like or use here. But since you always go around half-naked I thought you could cover yourself sometimes.”

“Not that you don’t like me naked.”

“Well, it’ll get cold here sooner or later.” Ichigo grumbled avoiding thinking about that remark.

If in Hueco Mundo the passing of the season existed of course. Ichigo didn’t know. He spent two weeks visiting shops and looking through the web to find something that Grimmjow could have liked and ended up buying a boring scarf. He was tense, in wait for the reaction to that present.

Grimmjow was feeling the smooth surface with his fingertips. He took an edge and stroked the scarf against his cheek slowly, then he rubbed the face on it with a satisfied expression.

“U-uhm… do you like it?”

“This thing is fluffy.”

Grimmjow stated with a serious face. But his eyes were sparkling. He put it around his neck and the scarf was still long enough for its edges to lean on the sand. “Here, Ichigo.” Grimmjow tangled the scarf around Ichigo’s neck, tying themselves together.

“This is truly uncomfortable, Grimmjow.”

“Just feel how it’s good to touch.”

“I know, I bought it.”

It was difficult to convince Grimmjow to take off his scarf and even more pushing him into the gigai. So, Ichigo didn’t believe when they sat down into their seats at the cinema just in time for the first evening show.

He thought about throwing a party, but he noticed how Grimmjow could handle people just in small doses; during his birthday party, at a certain point he was afraid Grimmjow’s irritation could have made him throw a cero even if he was into a human body. But he did nothing, just stayed on his angle eating and drinking for the sake of Ichigo’s happiness and he appreciated his efforts. Grimmjow didn’t even make a fuss during the long five minutes Orihime tried to involve him into karaoke; Yuzu tried for a different approach and just sat down next to him and talked.

Staying on their own and doing something different looked like a nice compromise.

“After the movie, maybe we can take an ice cream. And, if you want and it’s not too late, we can go back in Hueco Mundo and fight. A bit.”

Ichigo lowered his voice and looked away. He wasn’t fond of fighting, especially because the arrancar didn’t restrain himself and gave him injuries, but Grimmjow from time to time expressed his desire of crossing swords with him. And the few times Ichigo gave up to his bloodthirst, he ended up being naked under his likewise naked body.

“What’s that? Part of the present?”

“You can call it like that. Just for this time. If you don’t stab me into the shoulder again.”

“Still with that story? I’ve already told you I thought you would have avoided.”

“It’s not like I can cover myself with injuries and pretend with my family that nothing happened!”

Grimmjow gave him a smug look. “But something happens whenever we cross all our swords.”

It took Ichigo a while to grasp the other sense behind his sentence and he coughed to cover his embarrassment. Yet, his ears turned red.

“Did you hear that?”

“Are you trying to change topic, Ichigo?”

“No. I’m not! It’s just like a small… crunch. It comes from…” Ichigo took the can of pop-corns he had put in the seat next to his and looked into it. “W-what?”

Grimmjow leaned in to have a look. On the top of the can there was the small loaf of Hollow that was nibbling at the pop-corns with a happy expression. When it noticed that two pair of eyes were staring, it trembled, covering his mask with his ears.

“Uhm… I should kill it, but…”

“Nah. I know this thing. There’s a higher chance that he gets himself killed under a car if we let it go.”

When the lights turned down and the machine started projecting the images on the big screen, the Hollow made a timid attempt of peeking outside of the can. As he spotted the big figures moving in front of him, its ears flinched.

It noticed the holding hands of the ones who had looked at it earlier and raised its head to look at them. After an attentive observation, it tried to climb on Grimmjow’s arm, but fell down on his lap with his belly up. It fell asleep before it could even think about trying again.

Ichigo chuckled. “Looks like you have a fan.”

“Shut up. The movie’s about to start.”

_ “Grimmjow…” _

_ “What?” _

_ “The scarf. Why did you put it around your waist?” _

_ “It does give a cool vibe like this, doesn’t it?” _

_ “…uhm… yeah?” _

**Author's Note:**

> The cute Hollow wasn't in the plan. Nor the scarf, I had no idea what Ichigo could buy to Grimmjow, so I managed to identify with him.
> 
> Here I made a drawing related to this one shot (http://pantherandstrawberry.tumblr.com/post/163328778099/a-sort-of-small-continuation-of-moon-and-sun-i)


End file.
